Conventionally, a condenser that condenses a refrigerant includes a modulator tank that separates gas and liquid of the refrigerant flowing out of the condenser and that store the refrigerant. The modulator tank is provided along a side portion of a header tank of the condenser such that the longitudinal direction of the modulator tank coincides with the longitudinal direction (i.e., in the gravity direction) of the header tank. Hereinafter, such a modulator tank is referred to as a vertical modulator tank.
In a market in recent years, a condenser is required to be thin to reduce a mounting space while maintaining a performance of a conventional condenser. Even when the thickness of a core part is reduced to meet the requirement, the capacity of the modulator tank also has to be assured in order to ensure the performance of the condenser.
In the case of a conventional vertical modulator tank, tank diameter cannot be reduced in the viewpoint of ensuring capacity. Therefore, the thickness of the modulator tank in a front-back direction increases with respect to the thickness of a core part and the thickness of a header tank. As a result, a dead space is provided around the core part, making it impossible to reduce the thickness of the entire condenser.
For countervailing the above-described abnormality, a condenser is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. The condenser described in the Patent Literature 1 includes a vertical modulator tank provided on a side edge of the condenser and a horizontal modulator tank provided in a horizontal position on the upper edge of the core part along the core part.